Thursday, June 12, 2014

Unisonic – For The Kingdom

After a couple of years and some work with their other
respective bands, the members of Unisonic are back to deliver another dream
come true for fans of early Helloween. Of course, Unisonic doesn’t quite sound
like the two Keepers records, but there are some definite similarities. In
fact, on “For The Kingdom”, the band comes as close to this sound as we can
reasonably expect. The title track opens with a pretty thrashy riff that is
quickly calmed by Michael Kiske’s still unbelievably stellar vocals. The chorus
is also driven by his great singing, and the track as a whole feels very much
like a spiritual successor for “Eagle Fly Free”. Sure, it’s not exactly the
same, but it definitely has that high-speed album opener feel to it. This is
definitely among the best songs the band has done together, and the one with
the most power metal feel to it.

The other new song is the EP-exclusive track, “You Come
Undone”. This one is certainly not the power metal epic that “For The Kingdom”
was, but it is quite an upbeat tune that chugs along nicely in the verses. The
choruses again rely on Kiske’s godly vocals. This track is still pretty heavy,
and lacks some of the cringy melodies that were present on the first record. After
the two original tracks, the band put together 4 live renditions of songs from
the first album. As someone who primarily likes Unisonic for their metal roots,
“Never Too Late” and “Star Rider” were not particularly ideal choices for me.
With that said, all of the performances are pretty true to the original songs,
so if you liked those 4 tracks on the first album, you’ll like them here.

On the whole, “For The Kingdom” seems like a bit of a lazy
release. One track is exclusive to it, but besides that, the title track will
appear on the full-length, and the live songs just seem like filler to justify
a full release. It’s best to add “You Come Undone” as a bonus record to the
upcoming album, or just put it on the album and not deal with this release.
Nevertheless, it’s hard to deny that these two original songs are pretty great.
They show Unisonic sticking to the metal side of their sound, and that’s the
side that is much stronger, and the side that is the reason people were so
compelled by Unisonic to begin with.